=================================== a c c w e b n e w s The Anglican Church of Canada http://www.anglican.ca/ =================================== Bishop protests unauthorized ordinations Marites N. Sison staff writer Nov 20, 2007 Bishop Michael Ingham of the diocese of New Westminster said there is now a "full-blown schism" within the Anglican Church of Canada, following the departure from the church of a retired bishop opposed to same-sex blessings, who is leading a conference Nov. 22-23 that will offer a separate body for conservative Canadian Anglicans. The retired bishop of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, Donald Harvey, who relinquished his ministry with the Anglican Church of Canada and announced his defection to the South American province of the Southern Cone Nov. 15, is also planning to perform ordinations in the diocese of New Westminster, according to Bishop Ingham. Bishop Ingham said he has written to Bishop Harvey, prohibiting him from performing the ordination of two deacons from St. Matthew's, Abbotsford scheduled Dec. 2. (St. Matthew's is one of four dissenting parishes that have withheld their contributions to the diocese after it allowed the blessing of same-gender unions in 2002.) Bishop Ingham said that the church's Canon 17, "explicitly requires the permission of the diocesan bishop for another bishop to perform episcopal acts" in his or her diocese. "They're (ordinands) not persons I know. They're certainly not ordinations that I'm doing, and we learned that Bishop Harvey is intending to do these ordinations," said Bishop Ingham in an interview. "I wrote him (Bishop Harvey) to say that he could not do this without my authority." Bishop Ingham said he has also written to the two candidates "to say that their ordinations, if they proceeded, would not be recognized within the Anglican Church of Canada or within the Anglican Communion." He has also warned 10 clergy in the diocese who belong to the four dissenting parishes - St. Matthew's, Abbotsford, St. John's Shaughnessy, St. Matthias & St. Luke, and Good Shepherd - that under the church's canons, or laws, they may be subject to disciplinary action if they participate in these ordinations. "This is a full-blown schism now within the Canadian church and it is a direct attack upon the catholicity of the church and the gospel of Jesus Christ," said Bishop Ingham. "It is one thing to hold differing opinions as many Anglicans obviously do on matters of sexual ethics. It's quite another thing to establish alternative ecclesial bodies, which is schism." To read more, please visit the Anglican Journal Web site, www.anglicanjournal.com ---